Radon Question Naperville

[Lookout Kid]

About 40% of the houses in Will and Dupage Counties have "elevated" radon levels. I've read several recommendations for mitigation of radon levels higher than 2 ppm in basements, but the EPA only considers levels "dangerous" if they are over 4 ppm. I am purchasing a house that has an existing radon mitigation system, and instead of seeing it as a warning sign, I considered it a bonus. It's never a bad thing to have in a finished basement area, especially if there are bedrooms below grade.

With 40% of homes having this problem across most of Chicagoland, we all have probably been exposed to radon. Outdoor radon levels are almost always higher than 4 ppg inches above the ground, but we still allow our kids to play outside. This is one of those risks that's tricky to evaluate.

[westburbsil]

Follow up question to Chet or anyone with experience with radon. My friends kids got their results and sent them to me for I said I asked individuals on this forum. Told them I was on this forum with a lot of knowledgeable individuals in real estate. Looks like they had 2 devise placed, one in gravel crawl and one in finished part of basement. If reading it right, says over crawl result 1 2.0, detector 2 result 2.0, average 2.0.

Then below it says testing devise continuous radon monitor in basement measured 2.8.

Well, as I said they are getting calls from radon companies saying should be under 2 and the other thing, in which I never heard of is that instead of using carpet to cover gravel crawl, it must be sealed? That seems overkill and a lot of money to me! Thing is they have 2 young kids and the people at the companies said you don't want your kids to have a high risk of lung cancer and the husband used to smoke in college, but quit, they said he is at risk to?
To me lots of red flags and I know there are good and bad people in business, but to me sounds like these people are kinda jerks and using scare tactics since all in all, it passed? Thoughts? Thank you.

[westburbsil]

One last thing that also got them paranoid is company said radon changes daily and that the two day test is not reliable, correct or incorrect? Thanks again!

[nana053]

The whole radon business is a scam, you know.

Radon: Risk and Reality

A large portion of the general population is under the impression that the scientific community has concluded that exposure to indoor radon conclusively causes cancer, and that there is scientific consensus of this "fact." Most people are not aware of the fact that there are actually no conclusive studies that have ever demonstrated that exposure to indoor radon, as commonly seen in the overwhelming vast majority of houses, increases the risk of cancer by any amount, and in fact, in the larger and better studies, what we see is that the risk of cancer actually goes down with increasing radon concentrations; to a critical elevated level (not seen in houses) wherein the risk then begins to rise. But those kinds of radon levels where risk increases is virtually never seen in houses.

[chet everett]

There is a science-y basis to the desire to reduce exposure to radon, I would not call the whole thing a money making sideshow.
There is also truth to the fact that radon levels do change daily, in fact as radon itself decays into various substances it is worthwhile to understand both the halflife of those decay products and the mechanism that effect radon production:

Radon decay chain -- half lives -- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Influence of indoor air conditions on rad... [J Environ Radioact. 2013] - PubMed - NCBI

As a matter of principle I recommend against doing business with anyone that uses scare tactics to further their sales... Appeal to fear - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia